Parenting How Did Your Parents Have "The Talk" With You?

List Rules Vote up all the responses that most closely match what your parents did when they had the sex talk with you.

Does anything say coming-of-age moment quite like the sex talk? Pop culture tells us it's a moment most parents fret over: what's the best way of explaining sex to your kids, anyway? Since chalking the new baby in the family up to the stork doesn't really work as an explanation for kids past the early years of elementary school, parents are tasked with figuring out how to talk about sex to their offspring if they want them to be safe – and aware of how the species persists.

Just because there's no guidebook for the sex talk, doesn't mean some ways of delivering it aren't better – or more scarring – than others. How did your parents approach the talk? Did they handle it directly? Ignore it? Hand it off to a family member or friend? Vote up the parental approaches that most match your experience of learning about sex.

list ordered by

1

7 2

They explained it all to me in graphic detail.

2

8 3

They didn't approach the subject because I learned about it at school.

3

5 2

They gave me a book that explained everything.

4

5 2

They showed me a medical video or diagram and gave me a clinical explanation.

5

4 3

They gave me a demonstration using inanimate objects.

6

4 3

They explained it to me in confusing metaphors so they wouldn't have to say anything graphic.

7

3 2

They sat me down and had a frank discussion about it without being too graphic.

8

2 1

They told me about how beautiful, natural, and healthy it is before explaining it.

9

4 4

They had a religious figure explain it to me.

10

1 2

They overshared about their own sexual experiences as an explanation.

11

2 4

They suggested I watch or look at adult entertainment to learn about it.

12

2 4

They took me to a sex worker.

13

0 2

They wrote me a letter or an email that explained everything without them ever having to talk out loud about it.

14

0 2

They lied about the process and its consequences to keep me from doing it.